Merely A Token
by Rumpleteasza
Summary: Yukura! At last. It's Sakura's birthday, what will Yue give her? Not something that belongs in a fic of a higher rating, sadly. But something nice all the same.


**A/N: **Mm. I'm not dead, I promise.

El Tango de Lucian is still in the works, as is my Elder Scrolls magnum opus, but this a little idea that has been stewing in my juicy Yukura-pot for quite a while. Plus, we're running out of Yukuras at – only 5 pages compared to fifteen thousand wossname of "S+S E+T!111"? Come on, people, we can do better!

So yeah. Here is my contribution. I was going for a very twee whimsical style with this one, so it may have ended up sounding like an extract from _Milly Molly Mandy_, but hey! If I'm not a jolly-hockey-sticks English stereotype, I've somehow had a personality switch in the night.

Love!

Rr xx

* * *

Merely A Token

* * *

It was a hazy sort of day, quiet and soft and yellow. The birds were too sleepy to sing. The streets were nearly empty, and Kero was looking for Yue.

He knew roughly where he might be, and so set off in the direction of the park, careful to keep out of sight. He needn't have bothered; he met no-one on the way. The park was unusually bright, like a green beacon showing through the gaps between the houses. The clouds were low but very thin, sun filtering through them like gold gauze.

He reached the gates and made instinctively for a low-spreading magnolia-tree on the far side of the lawn. Sitting unobtrusively in its upper branches, hidden from sight and absorbed with his own thoughts, was a figure holding a small wood-handled whittling-knife.

"Hullo," said Kero to Yue.

"Hullo," replied the other absently. He was leaning over, using the knife to chip away at something in his palm, a frown of concentration on his face. Around him the big magnolia flowers dipped and swayed.

Kero tried again.

"What are you doing?"

Yue's only answer was a faint indecipherable murmur; he was making slow, resolute movements with the knife, sending tiny chips of something pale and glassy falling onto the grass below. For once his reticence didn't seem to stem from moodiness; he seemed simply to be concentrating too hard to form a proper answer.

Curious, Kero wove his way through the branches, tiny wings fluttering, to hover beside his fellow Guardian's shoulder. Peering forward, he caught a glimpse of milky-white before Yue closed his hand, looking up for the first time and giving Kero a glance with something like reproach in it.

Kero gave up and went to sit on a branch further away. Unconcerned, Yue bent over his hand and resumed the chipping.

"The reason I came all the way out here to find you…" Kero began pointedly, trailing off as if fully expecting Yue to look up and eagerly enquire as to what fascinating news his brother had toiled to bring him. He was disappointed.

Chip, chip, scrape, chip.

"Do you want to know why I came all the way out here to find you?" Kero pressed, slightly put out.

"Mm," muttered Yue, not really listening. He leant close to the object, brushing some dust away, narrowing his eyes critically. He made another tiny cut with the whittling-knife.

"The REASON," Kero snapped, now a little annoyed, "is that Touya invited Yukito to visit this afternoon – which is getting on, by the way – and was wondering why he hadn't arrived yet."

"Mm."

"He wants to talk to Yukito."

At this, Yue paused slightly. "Is it urgent?"

"Yes," Kero said importantly.

Yue looked up again, fixing Kero with a stern gaze. Kero drooped.

"Well," he conceded meekly, "Not _urgent_, I suppose."

Yue went back to his concentration. Chip, scrape, chip.

Kero chattered away, unperturbed. "They're making plans. There's ever such a lot of things to sort out. Do you realise that Eriol-sama, Spinel, Ruby, the Brat and his cousin are all coming to visit? There's going to be a party, you know."

Kero spoke with the self-satisfaction of someone who is telling people exciting things that they don't know.

"It's going to be Sakura's _birthday_, you know," he carried on informatively.

Yue slowed for a moment, then returned to his occupation. "I know."

Kero, who had opened his mouth to say something else, shut it abruptly with surprise. "You- _do_ you?"

"Yes."

"How do you know? You're not interested in things like that. Why would you know when Sakura's birthday is?"

"One tends to pick these things up, Cerberus," Yue said dryly, holding the object up and appraising it, then turning it around and applying the knife to a different area. "Especially when one is attentive, rather than diverted at the slightest hint of food or video games."

Kero made a grumpy defensive sound. "Anyhow, whatever you're doing, you should stop soon if you don't want to be late for Touya."

Yue was absorbed again. "Yukito will arrive in due course," he murmured. "Worry not."

Kero ruffled his tiny wings in a show of importance. "Alright, I suppose." He craned his neck hopefully, trying to catch a parting glimpse of the object. "Are you _sure_ you wouldn't like to tell me what you're doing?"

His only reply was chip, chip, scrape, chip.

Kero gave up and took to the air.

Yue carried on whittling.

* * *

Sakura Kinomoto still retained her love of life, sweetness of temper and care for others, but the figure that was climbing the stairs to her room was not the same Sakura that captured the Cards. She was older, and wiser, and more solemn.

But still clumsy. Halfway along the landing she tripped on a corner of the rug, landing in a heap with a crash against her brother's door. It opened immediately.

"Sakura! Are you alright?"

A muffled "yes" floated up from the tangled pile of limbs, followed by a face wearing a rather sheepish expression. Touya relaxed, seeing that no harm was done, and cocked one eyebrow wryly.

"I heard tell that some monsters have feet _so_ big, they can't even walk without tripping over them."

Sakura spluttered indignantly, untangling herself and glaring at her brother with her hands on her hips. "You're so _rude_, Touya! The rug tripped me!"

"Maybe you should learn to look where you're going," Touya replied lightly.

Sakura folded her arms, disgruntled. "What are you doing in there, anyway?" she asked, trying to edge the door open. "Dad said you've been in there since four o' clock."

"Not anything that concerns you, little monster," Touya said smoothly, deftly blocking the door with his foot. His sister retreated, disgruntled, and disappeared into her own room with a snort that sounded a bit like "Fine".

Resisting the urge to laugh, Touya closed the door. He smiled at Yukito, who smiled back, surrounded by an unfinished banner reading 'Happy Birthday, Sakura!', a smudge of paint on his nose.

In her bedroom, Sakura was met by an excessively buoyant Kero.

"You're back! I thought you would never get here! I've been dying to discuss the party-"

"Hello, Kero," Sakura managed to squeeze in between the rush of words, a fond smile lighting up her face. "Why are you so keen to discuss the party? Do you want to help organise things?"

Kero spluttered for a minute, his flow momentarily disturbed. "-What – _help_ – I'm practically running the whole thing, if you want to know! _Help_ indeed-"

"Kero, it's Tomoyo and Touya who are organising the party. Which bits have you done?"

Proudly, Kero swooped to the desk, picked up a sheet of paper and thrust it under her nose. The decidedly long list was headed with clumsy red script spelling out FOOD.

Sakura got the giggles. On one level it was mildly annoying that Kero had filled the list only with sweet things that he himself was particularly fond of, but the adorably roguish look on his tiny face was too funny to ignore. She sat on the bed, weak with laughter.

Kero looked as if he was about to say something defensive, but decided instead to join her on the bed. Laughter was infectious.

"When is everyone arriving in Japan?" he asked when her giggles had subsided. Outside on the landing, they could hear doors opening and closing, and Yukito saying goodbye. "Have they called to let you know?"

"Eriol and company fly out from Gatwick early on Saturday morning," Sakura said, getting up to open the skylight. "But I don't know about Syaoran and Mei Ling – they're not sure whether Friday or Saturday is best yet. I think I'll phone tonight and ask."

Kero watched her adjust the skylight, caught in a rare moment of pensiveness. Sakura never left the skylight closed at night anymore, not even if it was raining. Yue had made a habit of his infrequent taciturn nighttime visits a while ago, and as Sakura had reasoned with unusually pink cheeks as she wrapped up against the wind coming through the open window, it wouldn't do to have him locked outside.

Tonight, though, it was warm and still. Hardly any wind at all; in a strange way, it felt like an expectant hush.

Funny, Kero mused.

Sakura was already back on the bed, phone in hand, dialing the Li's number in Hong Kong. It was Mei Ling who answered, and through the excited chatter and the bright smile on Sakura's face, Kero saw something pale alight on the roof outside the open skylight.

By the time he ventured outside, Yue was already settled by the window, looking placidly in at the scene of Sakura curled up in the deskchair, hugging her knees to her chest and talking animatedly into the telephone.

"I didn't think you'd come tonight," Kero said, perching on the top of the window-frame. "You weren't too late for Touya, were you…?"

Yue crossed his legs and brought something out of his pocket, along with the same little knife Kero had seen his using in the magnolia-tree. Brushing the object off, he began to tease the knifepoint into one edge. "Of course not," he said nonchalantly.

"Alright, what _are_ you doing?" Kero demanded crossly, taking to the air again and flying over. But Yue closed his hand over the object before he could see.

"Cerberus, excitable though you are, I shall lose my temper if you cannot at least adhere to a respectable level of privacy."

"You could just say 'mind your own business'," Kero grumbled. "No use in wrapping everything up in flowery language. Say what you mean and don't waste breath over it, that's what I think."

"I am aware of that," Yue answered abstractly, once again totally absorbed.

Kero peered through the skylight; Sakura was still stuck bodily to the phone, this time it seemed to Syaoran. "Are you going to talk to her tonight, instead of just skulking out here as usual?"

"If she wishes," Yue said stiffly, the blue dusk making his wings pearly and dim.

"Because, you know, while it's nice of you to come when the mood takes you, I'm sure she'd like you to come inside once in a while. In the warm? Where you can sit and have a chat, maybe?"

Kero craftily watched Yue press his lips together. He was pushing him now. Though he made conversation a lot easier than he used to, Yue's brand of speech could never be described as 'chatting'. And while he might have got it into his head to come and sit outside the skylight, for whatever reasons made themselves clear in that unfathomable brain of his, it was with a slightly inhibited and awkward gait that made Kero think that Yue himself wasn't quite sure why he was there. For all his loftiness, Kero knew from experience that Yue had funny little quirks about respect and deference. He would never dream, for example, of venturing through the skylight without an invitation. And even then he'd be hesitant.

Superior modesty, Kero thought. Good grief.

"Well, I'm going back inside, there's pudding to be had. Good luck with your little secret project…" Kero crane forward hopefully.

Yue closed his hand without even looking up.

"Fine," griped Kero, flitting back through the skylight into the yellow glow of the bedside lamp.

For a moment the knife was motionless in Yue's hand as he looked through the window – Sakura was tickling behind Kero's ears while she talked into the phone, smiling fondly.

After a moment, he gave a tiny, barely audible sigh. Then he returned to the object in his hand.

Sakura would come out to say goodnight after she finished her phone-call, but it would not be until after she was asleep that Kero would see Yue quietly pull the skylight shut and disappear into the dark.

* * *

"Oh Mei Ling, it's beautiful!"

The living-room was draped in banners and streamers, and food was heaped in dishes on the table; Kero was already making a valiant attempt at putting a dent in it. In the centre of the room, surrounded by her friends and copious amount of tissue-paper, was Sakura. She had just unwrapped a pale blue silk Chinese dress, embroidered by Mei Ling under the careful instruction of Tomoyo.

"Tomoyo helped me a lot," said Mei Ling, blushing, but she looked very proud.

"Oh no I didn't!" protested Tomoyo. "You did that embroidery all by yourself."

Mei Ling beamed as Sakura dashed away to put on the dress. She returned a moment later, smoothing the silky fabric with her fingers. "It's gorgeous!" she gushed. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome," Mei Ling said gruffly, looking pleased despite herself.

The party dissolved into a laughing, happy mass over the next half-hour as Sakura received presents from each of her guests in turn. Finally, sitting amid her gifts in a sea of wrapping-paper, Sakura announced it was time to eat.

"One moment," said Yukito, taking her by the arm and leading her out of the living-room. "Back in a moment," he called to Touya behind them.

Puzzled and blushing faintly, Sakura followed him. Yukito led her out into the garden, where he turned and smiled.

"Yukito?" Sakura asked, mystified.

"There's someone who hasn't had a chance to speak to you yet," he said with an odd, secretive smirk.

By the time realisation dawned on her, the light was already shining and the feathery wings were reaching from her companion's shoulders. Finally Yue stood in Yukito's place, looking – funnily enough – more embarrassed than anything else.

Sakura felt the familiar nervous tightening in her stomach, but it couldn't dispel the smile that was lighting up her face.

"Hullo, Yue," she said, obviously pleased.

Yue coughed and clasped his hands behind his back, not quite meeting her eye. "Hullo. Er. Happy Birthday…"

"Thank you," she replied, feeling strangely shy. In all the years she had known Yue, she still could not shake the timidness that always plagued her when she was with him. She'd put it down to deference.

"Would you like to join the others?" she inquired, more to cover up their awkwardness than anything. "We're starting the meal. You could have some cake if you like…"

He cleared his throat. "Thank you, but no. I do not require food, of course," he said, his voice growing stronger, obviously relieved at being able to fall back on more formal territory. "I shan't stay long. I just wished to, er… give you my gift."

That took her aback. Yue had never participated in her past birthdays, apart from being present in the form of Yukito. He'd certainly never given her a gift before.

Yue seemed to guess what she was thinking. He looked more awkward than ever and bounced on the balls of his feet, clearly thinking of what to say.

"Well, I thought that – well, perhaps it was appropriate to mark the occasion, it being a special one… sixteen, after all… anyway," he fumbled, producing a package from inside the drape of his robes and handing it to her. His cheeks were slightly pink. Sakura couldn't help being fascinated despite what she knew was a promising blush of her own – she'd never seen Yue like this. She accepted the parcel shyly and undid the simple cloth around it.

Something hard and smooth tumbled into her palm. Surprised, she examined it more closely. It was a piece of rock-quartz, inexpertly but meticulously carved into the shape of a five-pointed star. A little crescent moon was whittled into the centre, and the whole thing painstakingly sanded to create a smooth finish. It was amateurish, but had such obvious time and care taken over it that she felt a strange leap in her chest. A ribbon threaded through a hole in the top point of the star, to make it into a pendant.

"Yue, I –" she couldn't quite finish the sentence, her words clumsy in her mouth. "You made this?"

Yue was fiddling with a tassel on his robe. So un-Yueish, she marvelled. "It's not much," he said hastily. "Merely a token. I am sure you have much prettier jewellery, but I thought it might be…" he looked stuck. "…Nice," he finished lamely.

"It's beautiful," Sakura whispered, her hands shaking. "Beautiful. Will you help me put it on?"

His eyes widened, but he hesitantly took it from her and lifted her hair with the lightest of touches, tying the ribbon together at the ends. The pendant settled comfortably below her collarbone. Yue looked at it on her, began to say something, but then stopped and blushed instead.

Taking charge before her brain realised what she was about to do and started making protestations, Sakura stepped forwards and took his hand. Then she leaned up (not so far to reach now as when she had first met him…) and kissed him on the cheek. She could hear his breathing; was it her imagination, or was it quicker than normal?

She looked up at him, and now he did meet her eyes. He looked stunned, but not displeased. He smiled faintly, the pink now obvious in his cheeks.

She smiled in return, and still holding his hand, led him back into the house.

From the kitchen window, Kero watched and chuckled.

* * *

The party guests had gone home, or to bed, and Sakura was sitting quietly in her room while Kero finished off the leftover pudding. She had Yue's pendant in her hand, and was examining the finer details. She still couldn't quite grasp what had happened.

Kero paused in his nutritional demolition and looked over at her. His expression softened.

"I managed to wheedle some details out of him at last," Kero said, with no need to specify who 'he' was. "Did he tell you he flew out of Tokyo and all the way into the mountains to find a piece of rock-quartz?"

Sakura started, and almost dropped the pendant. "No! Not really? But that's… that's so far!"

Kero shrugged. "Where else do you think he would have gotten rock-quartz from? He can hardly just walk into a shop and ask for some, can he?"

"I – I didn't really think about it," Sakura confessed, feeling a new pang in her chest. She recognised the feeling, but it was usually for Yukito, not Yue, that it would come…

She re-tied the pendant round her neck with newfound tenderness, relishing the feel of it on her bare throat.

When Yue came to the skylight later that night, she sat outside with him until the moon had set and the dawn was peeking over the horizon, until she fell asleep against his arm. He did not move her.

Kero slept amid a pile of pudding-bowls, and a smile twitched his face.

* * *

**A/N:** Rock-quartz just seemed a little more believable than platinum-and-silver-delicately-wrought-with-amethysts-for-his-eyes-and-emeralds-for-hers, somehow. I have actually honestly seen that. Where's he getting the platinum and semiprecious gems from? Anyhow, this was my take on it. Bit less impressive, but enjoy as you will :)

Howay the Yukuras!

Rumms xx


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